AP - As of Friday, July 4, 2008, at least 468 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures June 28 at 10 a.m. EDT.

AFP - Shane Watson kept his nerve, and the seventh-wicket pair of Denesh Ramdin and Darren Sammy failed to carry West Indies over the threshold, as Australia completed a thrilling one-run victory in the fourth One-day International on Friday.

AFP - Andrew Symonds top scored with 87 and David Hussey supported with 50 to help Australia to a thrilling one-run win on Friday over West Indies in the fourth One-day International in St Kitts.

AP - A third autopsy on a teenage girl whose death sparked a riot last weekend in southwest China confirmed she died of drowning, while two more top local officials have been fired, state media reported Friday.

Reuters - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf hit back at calls for his resignation on Friday, saying he was needed to help political parties avoid an economic meltdown and tackle a militant threat gripping the country.

AFP - President Pervez Musharraf insisted on Friday that Pakistan's powerful army still supports him, but he said he would step down if he thought it would solve all of the country's problems.

AP - Pakistan's army under President Pervez Musharraf supervised a shipment of uranium centrifuges to North Korea in 2000, the disgraced architect of Pakistan's atomic weapons program said Friday.

AFP - Mongolia's leading politicians briefly set aside their differences on Friday and signed a joint declaration urging the nation against any repeat of this week's deadly election violence.

AFP - The clock that once counted down to the start of the Olympics in the centre of Qingdao, the sailing venue for next month's Games, now reads zero days, zero hours and zero seconds.

AP - Sri Lankan troops captured a key Tamil Tiger rebel base in the island's north Friday, a day after a wave of battles in the same region killed 32 rebels and two soldiers, the military said.

AP - The U.S. military said airstrikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents Friday in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan officials said civilians were traveling in the vehicles.

AP - In an unprecedented attempt to revive the tiger population in western India, authorities airlifted a female tiger to a national reserve Friday where it will join a male tiger delivered there last week.

AP - A senior Pakistani official said Friday the government is serious about fighting Islamic militants, after authorities said they had rounded up 220 suspects as a military operation proceeded in a volatile tribal region.

AP - Hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists — some in matching white or pink shirts — arrived in Taiwan on Friday on the first regular commercial flights in nearly six decades between the old foes.

AP - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon told his fellow South Koreans on Friday to trust and support the country's leaders following weeks of protests against U.S. beef imports that have rocked the government.